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    Polar middle atmosphere temperature climatology from Rayleigh lidar measurements at ALOMAR (69° N)
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2008) Schöch, A.; Baumgarten, G.; Fiedler, J.
    Rayleigh lidar temperature profiles have been derived in the polar middle atmosphere from 834 measurements with the ALOMAR Rayleigh/Mie/Raman lidar (69.3° N, 16.0° E) in the years 1997–2005. Since our instrument is able to operate under full daylight conditions, the unique data set presented here extends over the entire year and covers the altitude region 30 km–85 km in winter and 30 km–65 km in summer. Comparisons of our lidar data set to reference atmospheres and ECMWF analyses show agreement within a few Kelvin in summer but in winter higher temperatures below 55 km and lower temperatures above by as much as 25 K, due likely to superior resolution of stratospheric warming and associated mesospheric cooling events. We also present a temperature climatology for the entire lower and middle atmosphere at 69° N obtained from a combination of lidar measurements, falling sphere measurements and ECMWF analyses. Day to day temperature variability in the lidar data is found to be largest in winter and smallest in summer.
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    Validation of the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) version 2.2 temperature using ground-based and space-borne measurements
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2008) Sica, R.J.; Izawa, M.R.M.; Walker, K.A.; Boone, C.; Petelina, S.V.; Argall, P.S.; Bernath, P.; Burns, G.B.; Catoire, V.; Collins, R.L.; Daffer, W.H.; De Clercq, C.; Fan, Z.Y.; Firanski, B.J.; French, W.J.R.; Gerard, P.; Gerding, M.; Granville, J.; Innis, J.L.; Keckhut, P.; Kerzenmacher, T.; Klekociuk, A.R.; Kyrö, E.; Lambert, J.C.; Llewellyn, E.J.; Manney, G.L.; McDermid, I.S.; Mizutani, K.; Murayama, Y.; Piccolo, C.; Raspollini, P.; Ridolfi, M.; Robert, C.; Steinbrecht, W.; Strawbridge, K.B.; Strong, K.; Stübi, R.; Thurairajah, B.
    An ensemble of space-borne and ground-based instruments has been used to evaluate the quality of the version 2.2 temperature retrievals from the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS). The agreement of ACE-FTS temperatures with other sensors is typically better than 2 K in the stratosphere and upper troposphere and 5 K in the lower mesosphere. There is evidence of a systematic high bias (roughly 3–6 K) in the ACE-FTS temperatures in the mesosphere, and a possible systematic low bias (roughly 2 K) in ACE-FTS temperatures near 23 km. Some ACE-FTS temperature profiles exhibit unphysical oscillations, a problem fixed in preliminary comparisons with temperatures derived using the next version of the ACE-FTS retrieval software. Though these relatively large oscillations in temperature can be on the order of 10 K in the mesosphere, retrieved volume mixing ratio profiles typically vary by less than a percent or so. Statistical comparisons suggest these oscillations occur in about 10% of the retrieved profiles. Analysis from a set of coincident lidar measurements suggests that the random error in ACE-FTS version 2.2 temperatures has a lower limit of about ±2 K.
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    Comparison of NLC particle sizes derived from SCIAMACHY/Envisat observations with ground-based LIDAR measurements at ALOMAR (69° N)
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2009) von Savigny, C.; Robert, C.E.; Baumgarten, G.; Bovensmann, H.; Burrows, J.P.
    SCIAMACHY, the Scanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY has provided measurements of limb-scattered solar radiation in the 220 nm to 2380 nm wavelength range since summer of 2002. Measurements in the UV spectral range are well suited for the retrieval of particle sizes of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) and have been used to compile the largest existing satellite data base of NLC particle sizes. This paper presents a comparison of SCIAMACHY NLC size retrievals with the extensive NLC particle size data set based on ground-based LIDAR measurements at the Arctic LIDAR Observatory for Middle Atmosphere Research (ALOMAR, 69° N, 16° E) for the Northern Hemisphere NLC seasons 2003 to 2007. Most of the presented SCIAMACHY NLC particle size retrievals are based on cylindrical particles and a Gaussian particle size distribution with a fixed width of 24 nm. If the differences in spatial as well as vertical resolution between SCIAMACHY and the ALOMAR LIDAR are taken into account, very good agreement is found. The mean particle size derived from SCIAMACHY limb observations for the ALOMAR overpasses in 2003 to 2007 is 56.2 nm with a standard deviation of 12.5 nm, and the LIDAR observations yield a value of 54.2 nm with a standard deviation of 17.4 nm.